Are You Ready?

To make ready a people prepared for the Lord – Luke 1:17

    This man named John was sent by God to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The mission did not start in the hearts of the people; even John did not initiate the mission. The mission was initiated by God. God is the original Missionary, if you will, which suggests that every mission of ours is really a submission to the higher mission of God. God has a mission and his mission is about establishing a people. John had a mission put in his heart by God; to prepare a people for the Lord. It is interesting to note that while God certainly loves individuals, He wants a people, a group, a family, a nation, an assembly of people. Your personal, individual life is important but it is always in relationship to others that God calls us. God has always wanted a people for Himself. He loves people. He created people. He wants to use people and entrust people. He wants to live amongst a people and fellowship with them.

    The word ‘people’ in the Greek is the word ‘laos’ from which we get our term ‘laity’. God never has been a God of class distinction; he does not see what we call the clergy and the laity, he is simply looking for a people. He is not looking, necessarily, for a preacher, or a minister, He is looking for ordinary, believing people. ‘I sought for a man’. Our hearts are not naturally prepared or inclined to do the will of God or even to recognize God when he arrives in our lives. If we are not made ready and prepared we will not receive Him when he comes. Jesus came to His own people and His own received Him not. Jesus lamented the fact that even Jerusalem did not know or recognize the time of her visitation. They were not ready.

    It is of supreme importance that we be prepared. Most people understand what it means to prepare and the necessity of it. When we are planning a vacation, we prepare by saving money and booking it on the calendar. When we are expecting a child, we prepare by designating a room as a nursery and furnishing it accordingly. When we are having friends over for dinner we prepare by purchasing the ingredients and cooking a meal. When we get up in the morning to exercise we prepare by warming up and stretching our muscles. When we want to plant a garden we prepare the soil by turning the ground and moistening the soil. Everything in life needs preparation. If we do not prepare we will inevitably forget something or we will not have adequate provision or we may even hurt ourselves. In like manner, our hearts need preparation. We need to be ready when the Lord chooses to move into our lives and circumstances. There are strategic times and opportunities when God is pursuing us and inviting us to a closer walk with Him. Isaiah encourages us to ‘Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near’.

   Yes, Lord, prepare my heart to be responsive to your presence, to fellowship and commune with you. Prepare me in connection with those whom I will need in order to fulfill your will in my life. Prepare me to obey your voice and to be a part of the fulfillment of your plan.

The Character of a Leader

Titus 1:8 - But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate

    The kind of man that Titus was encouraged to keep alert for was someone who had notable but, very often, overlooked virtues. Sadly, it seems that, when we look for leaders, we look for the high-powered, executive type, or a charming and sophisticated diplomat, or maybe we think we need the dominant, task-oriented person. But when God looks for leaders, he looks for an entirely different set of qualifications. Like the time when he saw the heart of a king within a shepherd-boy named David, God pursues men who, frequently, have unassuming credentials.

    Why would God stress the fact that a leader must be a lover of hospitality? I believe it is because the church is first and foremost all about relationships. We are the body of Christ, undeniably and organically linked together. Paul writes in another place that when one member of the body suffers then all of the members suffer with it. We are a spiritual body, therefore we affect and influence each other in ways which we may not be aware of. If I am committed to the church, then I am committed to people. People are what we, as churches, exist for. We want to reach, interact and share life together with the precious people of our communities. One who is a lover of hospitality is one who takes pleasure in opening up the home to include people of every walk of life. Our homes and our churches need to be places that are fond of guests and welcoming to strangers. That element is a good starting place for reaching others and for providing a safe haven from the storms of this life. If the leaders of a church have this trait then our churches will be known for their warmth and friendliness. In the day we live in where most of us have retreated into the privacy and comfort of our homes, a revival of hospitality is desperately needed.

    A.W. Tozer once wrote that, ‘The bias of nature is toward the wilderness, never toward the fruitful field’. In other words, in this fallen world, fruitfulness is not automatic. If we want something good to be produced in our gardens or in our churches, we must cultivate it. Everything in nature tends toward the wilderness, if you do not believe that, then, simply neglect your flower beds for a season. Good leaders are those who intentionally love and promote good things, and they provide a healthy and safe environment so that people can flourish and become all that God desires for them.

    In an age of lightness, looseness and laziness, to meet people who are sensible and serious about their life and calling, is like a breath of fresh air. While all godly leaders value what it means to have a sense of humor, they also understand that there is a sobriety about life that cannot be trivialized through constant joking. There are those who laugh and joke and flit and flirt their way through life, never amounting to much. As stewards of the house we must realize the urgency of opportunities that are presented to us. People come into our lives and they go out of our lives and we may never have another occasion to share the true meaning of our life with them. Years ago I read a statement that a Christian man had on the back of his business card, it said, ‘If you meet me and forget me, you have lost nothing, but if you meet Jesus and forget Jesus, you have lost everything’. As men of God, let us stand up tall, square our shoulders and walk forward, leading God’s family with dignity and gravity.

    The world we live in has become increasingly jaded and unjust and alarmingly partial and unfair, so, the church needs to stand out in striking contrast. Our leaders must be fair, unprejudiced and righteous before God. A person cannot be biased and still remain principle-centered and fair. To be an elder in the house necessitates impartiality, objectivity and open-mindedness. Like a judge entering the courtroom, we must approach all decisions without a predisposition and all individuals without respect of persons. If we are indeed men of justice and righteousness, then we will treat all people with kindness and due regard.

    Holiness is a word that conjures up all kinds of images; the angry and judgmental preacher in the old Western movies, young ladies who are told to wear long skirts and have plain hairstyles, and others, who do not drink coffee, go to the movie theatre and certainly never seem to smile. What does it mean to be holy? While holiness will definitely affect and alter our lifestyle, it is more of an attitude than an action. To be holy is to be set apart for a particular purpose or use. My life is not my own, I am bought with a price and I belong to another. Because my life is sacred, then, as a leader, I am more precise and intentional about my choices and how I spend my time. Jesus once instructed his disciples, ‘don’t give that which is holy to the dogs’, implying that holy things are sacred and have a value that many, in this world, will never understand or appreciate.

    When steel is tempered, it is strengthened through an intense process of heat that causes it to be less brittle and more pliable. God’s men are tempered through a similar process with the equivalent result. Strength through flexibility is a desired attribute in any leader. When a man is temperate, he responds to difficult situations and challenging people with calmness and balance. Knee-jerk reactions and outbursts of hot tempers have no place in the overseer’s life. Jesus demonstrated this kind of self-control perfectly, as he stood uncompromisingly before Pilate and didn’t allow himself to say a single word; there was no hint of self-defense and no desire for vengeance.

    May these godly qualities be infused into our lives as men, for we are husbands, we are fathers, we are pioneers of faith and we are beacons of light in a dark world. Arise and Shine!

    

The Qualities of a Leader

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God, not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre - Titus 1:7

    Paul uses the word elder and the word bishop interchangeably. It has been suggested that the first term; elder, has to do with the character of the man; dignified, stately and mature. The second term; bishop, which would be better translated overseer, and has to do with the role of the man; alert, watchful and observant. This leader is described as a steward of God, thus informing us that not only are we responsible for the people in the house; we are ultimately answerable to the owner of the house. We are stewards, we are not owners.

Observe the qualities that the stewards of the house must guard against; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, not a striker and not greedy of money.

    Self-will heads the list of dangerous traits in a leader. If a man must have his own way and if he is driven to fulfill his own pleasure, the church will always be at risk of being destroyed. A self-focused man becomes the source of all other fallen tendencies. Self-will is really the root of all sin as demonstrated by Adam in the Garden of Eden; he chose his own way over God’s way. Millennia later, in another garden, the Last Adam aligned his will with God’s will and thus restored the long-broken relationship between God and man. As long as we are self-willed we will be continually frustrated and soon we will be governed by anger. Anger is one of those qualities that reveal how disappointed and upset we are with ourselves. It is usually not about what the other person has done but about our own internal conflicts and disillusionment; we are not happy with who we are and where we are at in life. It has been said that most men correct in their children what they are not happy about in themselves.

    By using the phrase, not given to wine, Paul seems to be speaking of an addictive tendency in certain people. There are people who can have a glass of wine and not be given to it, and there are people who would never touch a drop but are ruled by it. Legalism is corrosive to relationships, and just as destructive as a lack of restraint. We cannot be the kind of people that are always looking for a way to escape the pressures of life in order to find a place of peace. There are those restless and agitated souls that never are content with where they are; they are always looking for something else.

    When a person resorts to physical violence and aggression it is a clear indication of a lack of trust in God; this person literally takes matters into their own hands, they are not seeking God for answers. Many men grow up attempting to solve all their problems through physical force. Punch first, think later seems to be their motto, and even after advancing in years and realizing that this only makes things worse, they may still have the attitude and predisposition of a striker. One who is quick to lift his hand against another is either full of fear or pride, or more likely, both.

     Ending the list of what a steward or elder must not be is the phrase; not greedy of money, or as another version says, not desiring profit for himself. In our day and in our culture much of a man’s success is measured in terms of how much money he has. Money is used across the world and is a necessary element in order to transact any business. It is not in any way wrong to have money. Quite the opposite actually, it is wrong for money to have you. Paul said elsewhere that the love of money is the root of all evil, and one can commit that sin without even having a dime. It is not about what we have or do not have; it is about our heart. As a leader, especially, we must not be those whose motives are for personal gain or benefit.

    My pastor counselled me, when we took over the leadership of a struggling church, to remove all of the potential faults in the infrastructure of the church. If we continue to build on a known fault-line then we shouldn’t be surprised when there is eventual disaster. Foundations are designed to uphold, remain steady and not shift under the weight and pressure of the structure. Titus was wisely instructed to avoid placing the weight of responsibility on the faulty foundations and character flaws of certain type of men. Negative traits in people, having become firmly established, are harder to deal with than cultivating positive traits in those who do not have them; it is easier to plant than it is to uproot.